Methods and apparatus for determining whether a media presentation device is in an on state or an off state

Abstract

Example apparatus to determine a state of a media presentation device are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus is to determine contribution values from at least one of a signal measured from a sensing device or an output signal accessed from the presentation device, the contribution values indicative of a state of a presentation device. The disclosed example apparatus is also to sum a first plurality of the contribution values corresponding to a first measurement cycle to generate a first intermediate fuzzy score for the first measurement cycle, store the first intermediate fuzzy score in a buffer, the buffer including a plurality of intermediate fuzzy scores corresponding to respective measurement cycles, combine the intermediate fuzzy scores corresponding to a first time period to form a final fuzzy score, and when the final fuzzy score satisfies a threshold, set the state of the presentation device as on and enable crediting of media.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus to determine a state of a presentation device, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one memory;   instructions on the apparatus; and   at least one processor to execute the instructions to at least:
 determine contribution values from at least one of a signal measured from a sensing device or an output signal accessed from the presentation device, the contribution values indicative of a state of a presentation device; 
 sum a first plurality of the contribution values corresponding to a first measurement cycle to generate a first intermediate fuzzy score for the first measurement cycle; 
 store the first intermediate fuzzy score in a buffer, the buffer including a plurality of intermediate fuzzy scores corresponding to respective measurement cycles; 
 combine the intermediate fuzzy scores corresponding to a first time period to form a final fuzzy score; and 
 when the final fuzzy score satisfies a first threshold, set the state of the presentation device as on and enable crediting of media presented by the presentation device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , wherein to combine the intermediate fuzzy scores, the at least one processor is to average the intermediate fuzzy scores corresponding to the first time period. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is to remove outliers from the buffer before combining the intermediate fuzzy scores to form the final fuzzy score, the at least one processor to remove the outliers by removing, from the buffer, ones of the intermediate fuzzy scores that fall outside a range based on one or more percentiles. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the final fuzzy score is one of a set of final fuzzy scores, and the at least one processor is to:
 calculate a minimum final fuzzy score and a maximum final fuzzy score of the set of final fuzzy scores; and   compare a difference between the minimum final fuzzy score and the maximum final fuzzy score to a second threshold.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is to apply a normalization factor to respective ones of the final fuzzy scores of the set when the difference is greater than the second threshold. 
     
     
         6 . An apparatus to determine a state of a presentation device, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one memory;   instructions on the apparatus; and   at least one processor to execute the instructions to at least:
 sum a plurality of fuzzy contribution values corresponding to a first cycle to generate a first intermediate fuzzy score for the first cycle, the fuzzy contribution values being indicative of a state of a presentation device; 
 store the first intermediate fuzzy score in a circular buffer, the circular buffer having a plurality of intermediate fuzzy scores corresponding to respective cycles, 
 combine the intermediate fuzzy scores of the circular buffer for a first time period to form a final fuzzy score; and 
 determine whether a signature match occurred during the first time period. 
   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 6 , wherein to combine the intermediate fuzzy scores, the at least one processor is to average the intermediate fuzzy scores for the first time period. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is to remove outliers from the circular buffer before combining the intermediate fuzzy scores to form the final fuzzy score. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 8 , wherein to remove the outliers, the at least one processor is to remove, from the circular buffer, ones of the intermediate fuzzy scores that fall outside a range of valid data based on one or more percentiles. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 6 , wherein the final fuzzy score is one of a set of final fuzzy scores, and the at least one processor is to calculate a minimum final fuzzy score and a maximum final fuzzy score of the set of final fuzzy scores. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is to compare a difference between the minimum final fuzzy score and the maximum final fuzzy score to a threshold. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is to apply a normalization factor to each of the final fuzzy scores of the set when the difference is greater than the threshold. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus to determine whether a media presentation device is in an on state or an off state, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one memory;   instructions on the apparatus; and   at least one processor to execute the instructions to at least:
 determine first and second characteristics of a signature associated with a signal representative of media presented via the media presentation device; 
 evaluate the first characteristic to determine a first fuzzy contribution value, the first fuzzy contribution value representing a degree to which the first characteristic corresponds to the media presentation device being in at least one of the on state or the off state; 
 evaluate the second characteristic to determine a second fuzzy contribution value, the second fuzzy contribution value representing a degree to which the second characteristic corresponds to the media presentation device being in at least one of the on state or the off state; 
 determine an audio test score based on a number of the first and second contribution values that indicate the media presentation device is in one of the on state or the off state; 
 convert the audio test score into a third fuzzy contribution value; 
 combine the first, second and third fuzzy contribution values to calculate an intermediate fuzzy score; and 
 determine whether the media presentation device is in the on state or the off state based on the intermediate fuzzy score. 
   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 13 , wherein the signal representative of the media is an audio signal associated with the media, the audio signal collected by an audience measurement device. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 13 , wherein:
 the third fuzzy contribution value is set to a first constant when none of the first and second fuzzy contribution values indicate that the media presentation device is in the on state;   the third fuzzy contribution value is set to a second constant when a first one of the first and second fuzzy contribution values indicates that the media presentation device is in the on state, and a second one of the first and second fuzzy contribution values indicates that the media presentation device is in the off state; and   the third fuzzy contribution value is set to a third constant when both of the first and second fuzzy contribution values indicate that the media presentation device is in the on state.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is to:
 calculate a fourth fuzzy contribution value based on a gain applied to a microphone of an audience measurement device that detected the signal representative of the media; and   combine the first, second, third and fourth fuzzy contribution values to calculate the intermediate fuzzy score.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is to integrate a magnitude associated with the signature over a period of time to determine the first fuzzy contribution value. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is to determine a standard deviation of a magnitude associated with the signature over a period of time to determine the second fuzzy contribution value. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus as defined in  claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is to:
 calculate a fifth fuzzy contribution value based on a hint from a remote control device associated with the media presentation device; and   combine the first, second, third and fifth fuzzy contribution values to calculate the intermediate fuzzy score.